Choose templates: best practices – Support Guardey

Choosing the right phishing templates helps you run realistic simulations and collect reliable results. Use the guidelines below to select templates that match your objective, audience, and campaign type.

Define your objective first

Start by clarifying what you want to measure.

Baseline test: measure current behavior before training improvements.
Follow-up test: measure improvement after training or communications.
Targeted scenario: test a specific risk (for example, credential theft or invoice fraud).

Your objective determines which template level and theme make sense.

Choose the right audience

Decide who you want to test and why.

Entire organization: best for baseline tests and broad awareness goals.
Specific team: best for role-based risks (for example, finance, HR, IT, management).
Pilot group: best when you try a new template set or new approach.

ℹ️ If you are testing a new template set, start with a small pilot group to validate realism and deliverability.

Use filters to find the right templates

In the template library, use filters to build a focused selection:

Language: match the languages used in your organization.
Level: match the maturity of your users.
Label: match the theme or threat type (for example, login, invoice, document share).

This helps you avoid templates that are too easy, too advanced, or not relevant.

Choose templates based on campaign type

One-time phishing campaign

A one-time campaign usually uses one template.

Use a single template when you want:

a clean baseline measurement
a simple follow-up comparison
a targeted test for one scenario

Randomized phishing campaign

A randomized campaign typically uses multiple templates.

Select multiple templates so users receive different emails over time.
Guardey does not send duplicate templates within the same campaign.

ℹ️ The number of emails per user cannot be higher than the number of templates you select.

Language behavior: what users will receive

Guardey uses the user’s language preference where available. If a template is not available in the user’s language, Guardey sends the English version.

If you want full control over wording in different languages, customize templates per language.

Preview before you launch

Before you use a template in a campaign:

Preview the template content and formatting.
Check that the sender name and subject line feel realistic.
Check the call-to-action and link text.
Confirm the scenario makes sense for your organization.

Best practices for reliable results

Keep it realistic: choose scenarios that match your tools and processes.
Increase difficulty over time: start with lower levels and move up as users improve.
Rotate themes: avoid repeating the same label too often.
Match the risk to the role: use role-relevant templates for teams like finance or management.
Avoid “too obvious” templates once your users become more mature.

When to customize a template

Customize a template when you need:

organization-specific wording (tools, departments, tone of voice)
better realism for a specific team
language-specific adjustments

Use Clone to edit to create your own version of a template and keep the original intact.

Next steps

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